The use of and advantages associated with portable computers are well known in the art. Over the last decade, there has been an intense effort in the computer industry to down size the personal computer ("PC") to provide users with a powerful yet portable computer that can be taken out of the office and fully utilized at home or on the road. As advancements have been made in both microprocessing chip and battery technologies, particularly over the last decade, PCs were eventually downsized into "laptop computers". While these computers offered the portability and processing power of a full sized PC, the laptop was still somewhat large and heavy for the user to carry around. In response to these disadvantages, the laptops were downsized even further into what is now commonly known in the industry as a notebook computer, which is smaller and more light weight yet possessing equal or greater processing capabilities than their earlier laptop counterpart.
In order to achieve a useful portable computer in the size of the notebook computers presently known in the art, many design processing and space saving changes occurred both in the electronics portion of the computer and in the exterior design. However, while the size of these portable computers has decreased, the expectations of the user with respect to the processing capacity and interfacing capabilities have expanded.
Thus, to accommodate this expanding need for a "super" portable computer, portable computer memory card international association ("PCMCIA") cards, which are small expansion modules each roughly the size and shape of a credit card, have been developed. These PCMCIA cards allow the user to temporarily expand the processing or interfacing capabilities of a portable computer with the insertion of a single card into the computer and interfacing it with the motherboard in the computer. Several different types of PCMCIA cards are presently available to portable computer users. These PCMCIA cards are often used in conjunction with a computer to easily, rapidly and interchangeably add various operational capabilities to the computer such as additional memory, enhanced video characteristics, networking or a fax/modem. For instance, some PCMCIA cards have been designed to allow the user to increase the RAM processing memory of the personal computer or interface the personal computer with varying types of Networks systems, such as Local Area Networks ("LAN"). Other PCMICA cards, alternatively, have been designed to operate as a modem or even has a supplemental hard disk drive. These and other various types of PCMCIA cards are now commercially available and extensively used.
Typically, a PCMCIA card is insertable through an exterior housing side wall slot of the computer into an interior housing card chamber within which a PCMCIA frame or connector having an ejector mechanism associated therewith is positioned. The inner end of the inserted card is forcibly plugged into and electrically connected with a complementary pin connector portion of PCMCIA connector that is, in turn, electrically connected in a conventional manner to the computer system planar or motherboard.
These portable, battery-powered computers have become increasingly popular over the last several years due to their light weight and small size that permit them to be easily hand-carried in an ordinary briefcase, yet with expanded capabilities. Business travelers, in particular, make advantageous use of such portable computers in cramped spaces, such as on airline seat back trays, lacking electrical plug-in facilities. In fact, a particularly small type of portable computer, the notebook computer, is very popular, generally having dimensions of 8.5".times.11" and a weight of less than 8 pounds. Smaller still are the "subnotebook" computers and personal digital assistants ("PDAs") that have recently found public acceptance. For purposes of this discussion, "portable" is a generic term including, but not limited to, larger-than-notebook, notebook and subnotebook computers and PDAs.
The modern notebook computer typically employs a clamshell chassis that incorporates both hard and floppy disk drives, a visual display built into its lid portion, and a keyboard built into its main body portion. It is thus a fully self-contained computer able to be conventionally used, for limited periods of time, in situations and locations in which the use of a much larger desktop computer is simply not feasible.
As is well-known, however, even state-of-the-art portable computers have certain limitations and disadvantages, compared to their much larger desktop computer counterparts. For example, the compact keyboard of a portable computer is often considerably less comfortable to use for extended periods of time compared to the more spacious separate keyboards normally provided with desktop computers. Further, display size and clarity are frequently compromised in comparison to the cathode ray tubes associated with desktop computers. Additionally, while these computers are quite portable, they have had little application in the field of point-of-sale transactions due to their inability to electronically read a credit card or other coded cards, such as bar codes.
Another significant disadvantage of portable computers stems from their primary advantage: portability. Unlike their desktop counterparts, portable computers are freed from the confines of a relatively secure office environment and often brought into and temporarily laid down in public places, such as busy airports and restaurants. Thus, their exposure to the risk of theft is substantial. Further, their portability, high cost and ready re-marketability make them attractive targets for thieves.
In addition to their intrinsic value of the computer's hardware as electronic equipment, portable computers often contain far more valuable software, including owner-generated data. In stark contrast to other theft-prone equipment, such as car stereo equipment, portable computers thus also are attractive prey for thieves caring little about the computer's intrinsic hardware value, but intent on gaining access to the computer's sensitive software contents. These data thieves, perhaps in the form of an industrial spy or jealous coworker, would be substantially deterred from divesting the owner of the portable computer if access to the software therein was denied.
Thus, achieving security for a portable computer requires addressing both of these concerns, namely, substantially diminishing the computer hardware's intrinsic value to the common thief and severing access to the software contained therein to deter the more sophisticated criminal.
In the past, providing security for a portable computer was mostly limited to the latter concern: denying access to the software or data. Denial was generally carried out by password protection or encryption schemes. Protection from casual thievery was limited to providing lockable containers for containing the portable computer or leashes for securing the portable computer to a relatively immovable object, such as a desk. Unfortunately, these physical restraints tend substantially to diminish the portability, and thus a large part of the value, of the computer to the owner.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a way of not only securing a portable computer against both theft of the data stored therein without substantially hampering the utility of the computer to the owner, but also providing a way for the personal computers to read data from a data card so that information may be quickly transferred to the personal computer and so that they may serve as mobile point-of-sale terminals. The present invention provides an apparatus that addresses these needs.